Mass Effect: Resistance
by Antonio92
Summary: As Commander Shepard leaves Earth to bring the races of the galaxy together against the Reaper threat, what will happen to those left behind? This will take a look at the untold heroes of the Battle for Earth, hopefully up to and including my own take on the ending. Rated M for violence and language, just to be safe.
1. Beginning of the End

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, David Anderson, or any of that (yet). I do own Lucas Veryre, Rei Igarashi, and a neat N7 shirt, but that's another matter entirely... Or is it?**

_Another day, just like any other… That's all it was supposed to have been. So... How did this happen?_ Lucas Veryre couldn't stop that thought running in his head, distracting him from what he really needed to focus on: that voice in his headset, the one shouting orders at him.

"-mander Veryre? Come in, Lieutenant-Commander! Two shuttles have been dispatched to get the civilians out of there; we need you to extract Admiral Anderson ASAP. Sergeant Igarashi is on her way, but she will need backup."

Rei Igarashi. Another N7 Marine, like himself, although her talents were more focused on infiltration and sabotage tactics, he could see how she would be ill-suited for a search-and-rescue mission like that one. Still, she was an N7 Marine, and would be able to handle herself until reinforcements arrived. _Which they won't in time, unless you get moving!_ With that thought, he nodded once – not that HQ would be able to see it – and tapped the headset command on his Omni-tool.

"Copy that, HQ, I'm moving to assist. What's the ETA on shuttle extraction?" They needed to get the Admiral back to a command center, after all, and a UT-47 would be the quickest and safest way to do that. A shockwave suddenly erupted in front of him and threw him to the ground like a discarded rag-doll as a beam of angry red energy blazed through the concrete building, gashing a weeping scar before moving on. Picking himself up, he stepped forwards, a single glance informing him that there was no way he would be able to jump that gap. But the Admiral still needed rescuing…

"I watched far too many of Rei's damned action movies," he muttered to himself, before looking down the gap. It wasn't as far as he had feared, but the drop would still be enough to break his legs. And then some. "Well, the Admiral's not going anywhere, more's the pity… Here goes nothing!" With a grunt, he allowed himself to drop down, wincing as some outlying spurs scraped against his armor hardsuit, but relieved to note that his Omni-tool registered no damage. Of course, that would not be true once he hit the rapidly-approaching floor…

Focusing himself, he drew on his L5v, a mass effect field quickly surrounding him to reduce his weight as much as he could – while not on par with that of, say, an Asari Commando, he hoped it would allow him to at least survive the impact. Hitting the ground with a roll, he straightened himself with a wince. It had hurt, yes, but he'd had worse at the Villa, and a little pain wasn't going to stop him now. Bringing up a small map on his visor HUD, he quickly noted the fastest route and started moving again. _Aside from that explosion, this place is too quiet,_ he noted, instinctively preparing a Snap Freeze module in case he ran into any nasty surprises. As a group of Husks and cybernetic horrors swarmed out of a nearby building, he thanked his paranoid instincts, and fired off the module, a cone of super-cooled gases hissing out to encase the creatures in small crystals of ice, slowing them down and disorienting them. Drawing his pistol, a basic N7 Eagle, Veryre fired a volley of shots into the group, smashing through augment cables, ripping through putrid flesh, and rapidly destroying the creatures. At least, that was his plan. Even as he watched, the Batarian-like creatures dived for cover, while two or three Husks sprinted directly at him with eerie hisses from their dead mouths.

"What are those things!?" he snarled, unleashing a point-blank Incinerate module into the creatures, nodding as the plasma round did what simple bullets could not, searing the creatures to ashes. But his ears could not fail to hear the whir of some form of automatic weapon starting up, and with a jolt, he realized that the other type of _thing_ must have some sort of ranged weapon. As the bullets began to track towards him and the first few began to spark off his shields, he crouched down and drove his fist towards the ground, grimacing as an Omni-shield shimmered to life between him and the hail of bullets. _This won't last forever,_ he noted, as the intermittent storm of shots swarmed into his shield. _There's a pattern to their movements, they must be following some rudimentary sort of program,_ he realized, before grinning and drawing his other weapon. At the next break in their fire, he pulled his hand back and stood up fully, the Omni-shield on his forearm forgotten as he took careful aim and retaliated, the rapid-fire Hurricane SMG depositing dozens of bullets in each of the creatures within seconds. _I'm not even breathing hard,_he smirked, before shipping the weapon and heading out again.

* * *

"With all due respect, sir, you should've gone with the Commander. We could've used someone like you asking for help!" With a slow breath outwards, Rei's finger tightened three times, and with a soft burst of sound, three of the Husks sprinting towards them collapsed. _I'm not going to be able to reload my Valiant in time, which means…_ With a wicked grin, the woman stood up, shipping the sniper rifle and drawing a long, single-bladed, slightly curved sword, before flickering out of sight.

With a burst of visual interference, she appeared behind one of the remaining Husks, her katana flashing out in a smooth arc to slice it clean in half, spinning around her hand in a wide semi-circle before plunging behind her in a back-handed maneuver, stabbing another of the creatures in the throat. As the rest of the Husks surrounded the woman, she smirked widely, withdrawing the blade from the now-dead Husk and flourishing it, before launching herself forwards. Seemingly surprised – if such a term could be applied to the cybernetic entities – by this reckless assault, the Husks were unprepared for the woman's ferocious attack, and soon gave way, leaving her outside of the small cluster, her sword crackling with lightning as she prepared an electrical discharge. _Heh. I love this thing,_ she grinned, spinning around and leveling her sword at the remaining Husks, firing a burst of electricity down the blade at the creatures, ripping them rapidly apart. _Time to get back and reload… Dammit, I hope those reinforcements show up soon!_

"I'm as much a Marine as you are, Sarge," came the confident reply, as Admiral Anderson slipped his pistol back into the holster at his side. "And if Earth has to fall, then I'll be damned if I give her up without a fight!" He frowned out at the dead Husks, easily picking out the signs of movement behind the corpses – signs that the Reaper forces were gearing up for a new offensive. And this one would be different, as well: he could see that some of the Husks were those bulky creatures with the guns, the ones that seemed to be formed from Batarians. And he could see what they were doing.

With an audible intake of breath, Rei glanced up from the sight of her Valiant sniper rifle, not believing what her eyes were telling her. "Are they… Fusing the dead ones onto their skins? I don't understand, why are they doing that? It's like they're cannibalizing them for… Oh, damn. Ablative armor, huh?" Her eyes returned to her scope, looking for a chink in the newly-fashioned armor of the nearest Batarian-Husk-thing, finding one and exploiting it. As the thing fell back, Anderson grunted.

"Cannibals. That makes as much sense as anything else the Reapers have thrown at us... Where are our God-damned reinforcements?" But even as he spoke, Rei shipped the sniper again, drawing her katana to point out across the impromptu battlefield.

"It looks like they finally got here, Admiral. Let's meet them in the middle."

**Author's note: So this is my first-ever fanfic, I know it's going to be terrible, let the flames commence! Also, if you have any constructive criticism so that I can get better at this (tips on the site's formatting would be awesome, too), or even compliments (hah, as if) go ahead and leave a review. Also, I'm currently looking for a beta reader, so if you somehow liked this enough to read the rest of my sub-par attempts at writing before they get polished up, please let me know.**

**Just a warning, I have no idea yet how regular my updates will be (gotta love college) but rest assured, I do intend to see this through until the end.**


	2. From Bad to Worse

**Hey, it's me again! I still don't own Mass Effect, but I do own Lucas and Rei. And that Cannibal, Bob. But Rei killed him last chapter, so he's gone now. Oh well.**

**Anyways, this is chapter 2, so enjoy!**

* * *

Smashing another Husk aside with his Omni-shield, Lucas noted that there were none left around him. In front, however, was a different matter – but they were clearly distracted, the bulkier ranged ones facing away from him and firing their weapons sporadically at targets he couldn't see. Checking his HUD display, he noted that his small red blip on the map was next to the LZ where the Admiral and Rei were holding out. _That answers that question,_ he noted grimly, _but begs another: where's the damned shuttle?_ Still, he would worry about that once he was through this small line of Husks and Batarian-things. Taking advantage of the distraction Rei and the Admiral were providing, him, he fired off a quick Snap Freeze module, before bludgeoning the frozen Husks into each other, their suddenly-delicate limbs shattering with a tinkling crash.

"Rule one: they're always behind you," he smirked, pausing slightly in irritation as he recognized a hint of Rei shining through, but pushing that behind him as his other arm snapped out, his Hurricane sending a hailstorm of bullets into the augmented flesh of the last few Husks, leaving him alone with a group of very irate Batarian-Husk-things. Resetting the Omni-shield on his other arm, he stared at the creatures for a while and they returned the favor, neither side seeming to know what to do.

Until a katana burst through a Batarian-Husk's spine, with a shower of gore and a happy, "Lucas! So glad you could make it, it wouldn't be a party without you!" As the incongruous statement snapped him out of his stupor, the Sentinel charged forwards, his Hurricane spitting out a stream of fire towards the nearest creature, the bullets chewing up its body towards its head and then slamming past it to carve into another of them. As he drew nearer to the things, Lucas raised his Omni-shield to deflect their hurried shots, before slamming it edgewise into the nearest creature, the sharp-edged shield slicing it nearly in half. His Hurricane snarled again briefly, and then fell silent as the last of the creatures fell, an armored fist lodged neatly in the back of its neck. With a small smile, Lucas stepped forwards, nodding a greeting to the slender woman in front of him.

"Sergeant Igarashi, good to see you in one piece. Where's the Admiral?" As she gestured back across the field of broken Husks, the N7 Paladin nodded, shipping his weapon and setting out with a brisk pace. Pausing only for a second to scan for any Husks or Cannibals that might have escaped the other Marine's notice, Rei scowled with mock-disappointment, sliding her katana back into its magnetic sheath.

"Say, Lucas, how many did you kill? I think I got at least a dozen… Then again, they aren't all that hard to kill. I almost wish they would have some decent armor, a hardsuit or something. That way they'd actually be a bit of a challenge to us," the Shadow Infiltrator smirked at her companion, only for him to shake his head in exasperation. "You can't be serious, Rei. From the way you act, anyone would think we were back at the Villa, just running through a combat simulation or something, where the winner gets a clap on the back and the loser a smack on the head. People can _die_. People _have_ died. This isn't a-"

"_Urusei_! I know that, Lucas," she scowled. "It's a coping mechanism, alright? I pretend to have fun, that way I can avoid thinking about the fact that everyone's dying around us! Damn, you just have to be the world's biggest spoilsport, don't you? It's… Dammit, Lucas. I watched as Anne got ripped apart by one of those things. I saw the bullets smash through her shields, through her hardsuit, through _her_. I _know_ it's not a game, but… Not all of us can be as cold as you! _Che_!" With a huff, she stormed off, heading towards the makeshift barricade where Admiral Anderson could now be seen. Lucas watched her go, an unfamiliar feeling of shame settling down in his stomach. _I'm not trying to be cold, Rei… Not everyone can think like you do, that's all. Hah. Clearly, not everyone can think like I do, either._ Shaking off the unwelcome thoughts – they had an Admiral to protect, after all – he was quick to follow Rei's smaller frame to the barriers.

"Admiral Anderson, I'm glad you're alright, but, with all due respect, sir, you should've gone with the Nor-" As he was cut off by Anderson's sigh, Rei couldn't help but let a slight smirk come to her lips. After all, he wasn't the first to argue this point with the Admiral, and she was sure he wouldn't be the last.

"No offense, Lieutenant-Commander, but I've heard that argument before. I didn't listen last time, I won't listen now. I chose to stay here, and I'm damned well not going back on that decision." To soften the bite of his words, the Admiral smiled at Lucas, gesturing up towards the stars – towards Mars and the Mass Relay, too. "And besides, if Commander Shepard can't convince the galaxy to help us, then I wouldn't be able to do much either. I'll just have to trust that the Council knew what they were doing when they made Shepard the first human Spectre… And you'll just have to trust me." At that, Lucas nodded stiffly and snapped out a salute, before turning around and scanning the open area.

"Well then, sir, I'm glad to have you with us," he admitted, before glancing up at the sky. "I don't understand, the shuttle should have been here by now… Sergeant Igarashi, is that radio working? Try and raise HQ, we need confirmation on the shuttles." The woman nodded and knelt down, but even as she reached out to touch the radio, a hiss of static came over the speakers. "Clean it up," Lucas snapped, glancing down at it. Rei activated her Omni-tool, running a scanner over the radio, before shaking her head.

"It's gone. I don't know if the Reapers are jamming us or if it just chose the worst possible moment to die, but…" Her voice died out as the three of them spotted movement up back where Lucas had come from. Without even trying, they knew it would be Husks, and probably more than a few of those Cannibal things, too.

"We're on our own."

* * *

**I should probably apologize for ending on a cliffhanger, but I couldn't really think of any way to continue this without it's seeming contrived. I still need a beta, and I would really love to have some reviews (as in, I'm not gonna update again until I have at least one review). Those are what tell us authors that you've actually read these stories, without just scanning the first page, shrugging, and alt-tabbing. Hey, I've done it too, but please. It sucks for us authors. So yeah. R&R, and if you wanted to beta this, let me know!**


	3. All on their Own

**Still me, still don't own Mass Effect, and still trying to bring back Bob. A Valiant to the head is hard to cure, ya know?**

* * *

"We're on our own."

Those words were enough to send chills down the spine of anyone in the midst of a Reaper invasion, but all three of them had undergone the N7 training program. They had faced worse things at the Villa, and there wasn't much that could give them cause for concern. SO instead of freezing or panicking, Lucas instead pulled up his HUD map, trying to get a fix on the layout of the now-ruined city around them.

"My visor doesn't have data for the ruins, sir, but I did just come from Alliance HQ so I know that there's a clear path most of the way. Should we try and get back there?"

Rei glanced at him, then at the skies, and shook her head. "What about the shuttle? You said they'd be sending a Kodiak for us, didn't you? So if we move, they won't be able to find us." She glanced around again, almost as if she was hoping that her words would make one appear magically to save them. Instead, all they saw was a lance of red light, smashing through the city in front of them, and blazing a short trail towards their position. Lucas and Anderson glanced at each other, and the older Admiral smiled wryly, and shook his head.

"Looks like that's a chance we're going to have to take," he said. "If we stay here, those Reapers will know where we are, and we'll have half their damned army on top of us before we know it. At least if we're moving, the Reapers shouldn't know where we are." Rei nodded reluctantly, but shipped her Valiant nonetheless, and gestured out towards where Lucas had come from.

"If we're going to try to reach HQ, we should move now before the Reapers destroy it completely." The other two nodded, and Lucas stepped forwards, taking the lead without comment as he guided them back where he had come from, picking their way over shattered walls, twisted steel and the bodies of Husks and humans alike. None of them had ever seen anything like this, and they had all fought in some of the fiercest warzones in the galaxy.

"This… This isn't even a battle," Lucas murmured, awed and slightly shell-shocked as he watched another building collapse after a brief exposure to a Reaper's lance. "It's a slaughter… We aren't even a threat to them! How can we win against these… These _things_?"

Anderson opened his mouth to reply, but Rei beat him to it. "Faith," she said simply. "We have to have faith that Commander Shepard will be able to get the rest of the galaxy to help us. You're absolutely right, we can't beat these things on our own. We can hurt them, maybe, but we can't win. So we have to hope that Shepard will come back before it's all too late." Lucas grimaced at that statement, but he knew it to be true. Far off in the distance, he heard the strange resonating crack of a ship's eezo core exploding, his eyes widening as a faintly blue shockwave raced towards them. Wordlessly activating his Omni-Shield, he planted it in the ground and crouched behind it, covering the other two with the defensive barrier as the shockwave washed over them, his implant tingling in response. Shaking his head, he got up and kept walking forwards for a bit, turning right to follow the route he had taken, and stopped dead. Where before there had been a path through ruined buildings, now there was a small Reaper. And it was looking straight at them.

For about five seconds, they just stared at each other, the pause seeming to stretch into an eternity, before an ominous glow started to build up in front of it, and the three humans snapped out of their surprise.

"Move!" Anderson shouted, as Lucas dived for him, pushing the man back around the corner and behind a building, knowing that would be scant protection should the Reaper decide it wanted them dead. He glanced across the way at Rei, who was sitting with her Valiant across her chest, her legs pulled up so that her knees were touching the sniper rifle's stock. She was trembling, and Lucas sympathized with her completely: they were all trained soldiers, and they knew that eventually they would die, but this… To see that thing sitting there, waiting for them… Lucas was surprised that he wasn't as affected as Rei, to be honest. Then the Reaper emitted one of those screeching booms, and everything became fear. Knowing instinctively that the next blast would be aimed at him, would slice through the building and cut through shields and hard-suit and flesh and bone, Lucas got up, perfectly ready to start running for his life, but two pair of arms stopped him dead. Anderson had reached up to pull him back down, and Rei had appeared in front of him, pushing him back.

"Don't be stupid, LC," she murmured. "That thing can't know where we are, I managed to cloak us when we split up. If you run, you'll only be giving our position away. The best thing to do for now is to sit tight and hope it doesn't find us." Lucas nodded silently, feeling the fear recede and cursing himself for giving in to what he realized now was a base and blatant psychological attack. A powerful one, definitely, but still nothing more. Although, even if he wasn't about to run and give the Reaper their position now, that still left them in a very precarious state. All it had to do was go around the corner, and it would find them. And then one of its legs appeared, and the three Marines knew that their time was up.

"In here! Quickly now!" A strangely accented voice called out from below them and to the side slightly, and Rei spun around, a strangled noise of surprise in her throat as a manhole cover shifted over away from the opening. Without thinking twice, she clambered into the hole, dropping down the ladder and watching as Lucas and Anderson did the same. Only then did she turn around to glance at their rescuer, and stare in surprise. The figure was clearly female, her head hidden from view, and a small pistol at her hip, but what was really surprising wasn't her appearance, but her race.

"What's a Quarian doing on Earth? Your people have all but disappeared from the face of the galaxy," Lucas hissed, as Anderson slid the manhole back into place, hoping that their ruse would be enough to escape the Reaper. Turning around, he too was struck still by amazement.

"I… Ah… Ignored the message," the Quarian replied, tapping her fingers together. "The Migrant Fleet is recalling every Quarian, but I was helping at one of the clinics here on Earth, and I didn't want to leave my patients behind. Besides… The Admirals will probably have exiled me by now." Anderson blinked. He might not know the Quarians as well as, say, Commander Shepard, but even he knew that to be Exiled was the worst punishment a Quarian could undergo. Which means that this girl chose humans over her own people?

"Maybe Earth has more of a chance than I dared hope," he muttered, even as the Quarian reached out to shake Rei's hand and introduce herself.

"My name is Rani'solah nar Tonbay," she said with a small nod, as the three humans introduced themselves. "Where are you going? I was lost in here until I heard your footsteps over me, and when they stopped I decided to have a look."

"Then it seems that we owe you our lives, Rani'solah," Anderson replied, shaking her hand himself. "I'm Anderson, that's Sergeant Igarashi and Lieutenant-Commander Veryre. I suggest you come with us, it's not safe here."

"O-Of course, Admiral," the Quarian stuttered, glancing up as they heard the booming claw-steps of the Reaper, and the roar that signified its boredom with the waiting game. "Lead on, I'll follow."

"This way, sir," Rei cut in, gesturing down a path, her Omni-tool shedding a bright lance of light in front of them. "As long as the tunnels aren't damaged, we should be able to follow the sewer systems out of the city. With any luck, the Reapers won't follow us there, and we can try and link up with any other survivors."

With a confident nod, Anderson signaled for the woman to lead the four of them onward.

* * *

**Sorry for the delay here, but no sooner had I managed to almost finish this than Sandy had to come in and cut off my power... Anyways, on to business. Still looking for a beta, still intend to finish this, and I still want proof that people are reading this... So R&R, folks, especially if you like this fic, and especially if you don't!**


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